Apparatus for correcting tongue thrust problems



July 5, 1966 H. w. TEPPER 3,259,129

APPARATUS FOR CORRECTING TONGUE THRUST PROBLEMS Filed June 1'?, 1964@gygy/ United States Patent Oiice Patented July 5, 1966 3,259,129APPARATUS FOR CGRRECTING TONGUE TI-IRUST PRGBLEMS Harry William Tapper,11633 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif. 96049 Filed .lune 17, 1964,Ser. No. 375,712 Claims. (Cl. 12S-172.1)

This invention relates to an apparatus for correcting tongue thrustproblems, and more particularly to such an apparatus which imparts anelectrical stimulus to a patients tongue when it is thrust forwardincorrectly.

As used herein, the term patient shall be taken to mean both the humanpatient and animal patient.

Many babies learn to swallow incorrectly by thrusting their tonguesforward instead of drawing them back and moving them toward the top ofthe palate. This develops a habit which is not broken as the childmatures, with the result that the child does not swallow correctly, butinsists upon thrusting his tongue forward between the biting edges ofhis teeth. This not only sometimes causes the child to develop adefective speech pattern, but also is detrimental to the formation ofthe dental `arches which support the teeth because the constant pushingon the teeth and mucosa by the tongue can cause these dental arches tobecome deformed.

In addition, many children develop the incorrect habit of permitting thetongue normally to rest against the lingual surfaces of the upperincisors. This too causes the dental arches to become deformed, andresults in malocclusion.

Also, some thoroughbred colts develop the habit of elevating theirtongues in such a manner that they do not breathe correctly. When suchcolts attain the proper age for racing, they will not develop intosatisfactory race horses if this habit is not broken.

In view of the foregoing, it is a primary object of the presentinvention to provide a new and useful apparatus for correcting tonguethrust problems and malocclusions.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a new anduseful device for producing electrical stimuli to correct tongue thrustproblems and malocclusions.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new anduseful device of the type described which will correct a patients habitof normallyresting his tongue on the lingual surfaces of his centralincisors.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a new and usefulpalate retainer which includes electrode means for imparting electricalstimuli to the tip of a patients tongue when it is moved forward toapproximately the lingual surface of his upper incisors.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a new anduseful device for training a thoroughbred colt to maintain his tongue ina proper position for satisfactory breathing.

According to the present invention, a suitable full palate retainer,such as one of the Hawley type, is provided with means for imparting asuitable electrical stimulus to the tip of a patients tongue when it isthrust forward to within approximately two millimeters of the lingualsurfaces of the upper incisors.

In one form of the invention, the electrical stimulus is provided byembedding six conventional 1.4-volt batteries in the palate retainer andconnecting them in series with a pair of electrodes which are alsoembedded in the palate retainer.

In a modification of the invention, saliva inthe mouth of the user ofthe device acts as an electrolyte for battery plates mounted in thepalate retainer. Six sets (cells) of battery plates are employed and areconnected to the electrodes in series.

In both forms of the invention, the electrodes are mounted on the palateretainer in such a manner that, when the retainer is in position in thepatients mouth, each electrode will be located approximately onemlllimeter from the lingual surface of an associated upper.

central incisor and will extend in the direction of the lingual-gingivalline incisally to the middle one-third of the lingual surface of anassociated central incisor. The tips of the electrodes preferablyproject toward the tip of the tongue about two millimeters.

When the patients tongue is thrust forward sufficiently duringswallowing to Contact the electrodes, a circuit is completed and anelectrical stimulus is imparted to the tongue, causing the patient todraw it back and move it toward the top of his palate in normal manner.An electrical stimulus is 'also imparted to the tongue when it iselevated incorrectly. This stimulus develops a habit in the patient ofnormally maintaining his tongue in a proper position.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel areset forth with particularity in the appended claims. 'Ihe presentinvention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, togetherwith further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood byreference to the following description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which like reference characters refer to likeelements in the several views.

In the drawings:

FIGURE l is a perspective view of an apparatus of the present inventionwhich may be employed to correct tongue thrust problems;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional View, on an enlarged scale, taken alongline 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken alongline 3-3 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a somewhat schematic, cross-sectional view showing thedevice of FIGURE 1 in position in a patients mouth;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a modified form of the apparatus shownin FIGURE l;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view taken along line 6-6 ofFIGURE 5 and l FIGURE 7 is an enlarged, partial cross-sectional viewtaken along line 7-7 of FIGURE 6.

Referring again to the drawings, and particularly to FIGURES 1-3, anapparatus of the present invention, generally designated 10, includes afull palate retainer 12 which may be of the Hawley type. The retainer 12is made by taking impressions of the patients palate and making a moldin conventional manner. The retainer 12 may be retained in position in apatients mouth by suitable clasps, such as the ones shown at 14, whichare embedded in the retainer 12. A pair of spaced electrodes 16 also areembedded in the retainer 12 and are connected in a series circuit with asuitable number of cells, such as the six shown at 18. The cells arepreferably wafer-thin, are embedded in the retainer 12, and place anelectrical potential of approximately 9 volts across the electrodes 16.

The retainer 12 may be made from any suitable dental plastic, as will bereadily understood by those skilled in the art, and is placed inposition against the palate 20 of a patients mouth. When so positioned,the electrodes 16 are preferably located approximately one millimeterfrom the lingual surface of an associated upper central incisor 22. Theelectrodes 16 extend in the direction of the lingual-gingival lineincisally to approximately the middle one-third of the lingual surfaceof the associated central incisor 22.

The tips 24 of the electrodes 16 are preferably somewhat sphericallyshaped to minimize irritation to the patients tongue 26 and projecttoward the tip of the tongue 26 about two millimeters from theassociated central incisor 22. When the tongue 26 is thrust forward, itwill contact the tips 24 of the electrodes 16 completing a circuitthrough the batteries 18. This causes an electrical stimulus to beimparted to the tongue 26 causing the patient to involuntarily draw histongue back and move it toward the top of his palate 20.

It has been found that electrical stimuli are quite effective inbreaking the habit of thrusting the tongue forward in swallowing withthe result that the patient subconsciously develops the correct tonguemotion of thrusting the tongue back toward the top of the palate 20 inswallowing. Likewise, electrical stimuli are equally effective inbreaking a patients habit of letting the tip of his tongue rest againstthe lingual surfaces of his upper incisors 22. Thus, the device can bepositioned in a race horses mouth and used to teach him to keep histongue down in a proper position for good breathing.

A modification of the apparatus is shown in FIGURES 5-7, wherein amodified apparatus 10a includes a full palate retainer 12a whichincludes clasps 14 and electrodes 16 which may be identical with thoseshown in FIGURES 1 3. The palate retainer 12a is modified from thatshown in FIGURE l to include apertures 28 through which the patientssaliva is free to ow. The cells 18a employed in conjunction with theretainer 12a may be activated by the patients saliva and are mounted inrecesses 30 which are provided in the lower surface 32 of the retainer12a. The recesses 30 communicate with the apertures 28 so that thepatients saliva is free to flow in and around the batteries 18a. Eachbattery 18a includes a suitable zinc plate 34 and a silver plate 36 (orcopper, or other combinations of metal plates with sufficient differenceof electrical potential) which may be separated with a light woodenseparator 38. The electrodes 16 are connected in a series circuit, notshown, with the cells 18a in such a manner that a suitable potentialexists across the electrodes 16 to impart electrical stimuli to theytongue 26 when it comes into contact with the electrodes 16. The cells18a are preferably wafer-thin so that they will readily adapt themselvesto various palates.

While the particular devices for correcting tongue thrust problemsherein shown and described in detail are fully capable of attaining theobjects and providing the advantages hereinbefore stated, it is to beunderstood that they are mere-ly illustrative of the presently preferredembodiments of the invention and that no limitations are intended to thedetails of construction or design herein shown other than as defined inthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for producing electrical stimuli for correcting tonguethrust problems of a wearer of the device, comprising:

a full palate retainer positionable in said wearers mouth against thepalate thereof, said retainer being made from an impression of saidpalate and including means for maintaining said retainer in position insaid mouth against said palate;

a pair of electrodes mounted in said palate retainer in such a mannerthat said electrodes are located approximately one millimeter from thelingual surface of the upper incisors of said wearer when said palateretainer is in position in said mouth, said electrodes including tipswhich project toward the tip of the wearers tongue about two millimetersfrom said incisors when said palate retainer is in position in saidmouth;

a battery means mounted in said palate retainer; and

electrical circuit means mounted in said retainer for connecting saidelectrodes in series with said battery means, whereby said tongue willclose said circuit and receive electrical stimuli when said tonguecontacts said electrodes.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said battery means is activated by thesaliva in said patients mouth and wherein said retainer includesaperture means in fluid communication with said battery means forconducting said saliva thereto.

3. Apparatus for correcting tongue thrust problems of a patient having amouth, a palate, a tongue, and upper incisors, comprising:

support means positionable in said mouth against said palate, saidsupport means having a front edge lying adjacent said upper incisorswhen said support means is in position in said mouth; stimulus meanssupported by said support means adjacent said front edge, said stimulusmeans including a tongue-engaging portion depending from said front edgeto a position approximately one millimeter from the lingual surface ofsaid incisors in the same horizontal plane as said incisors, saidtongue-engaging portion projecting toward said tongue to -a positionabout two millimeter from said incisors; means for producing an electricpotential at said stimulus means for shocking said tongue when itcontacts said tongue-engaging portion; and electrical circuit meansconnecting said stimulus means to said electric potential means forsupplying said electric potential to said stimulus means.

4.1A device for stimulating the tongue of a wearer of the device whenthe tongue is thrust forward toward the wearers upper front teeth,comprising:

a support adapted to be attached along the back of the upper frontteeth, said support including a front portion positionable immediatelybehind said upper front teeth, said support also including clasp meansfor retaining it in position along the back of said teeth;

a pair of electrodes depending from said front portion in spacedrelation, said electrodes being of such length that they extend to aposition in the horizontal plane of said front teeth when said supportis attached to said wearer along the back of said teeth, said electrodesbeing adapted to train said wearer to refrain from thrusting said tonguetoward said teeth by imparting an electrical shock to said tongue whencontacted thereby during electrical energization of said electrodes;

battery means for producing an electric potential for energizing saidelectrodes;

electrical circuit means connecting said electrodes to said batterymeans in an open circuit, whereby a circuit will be completed throughsaid battery means for energizing said electrodes when said tonguecontacts both of said electrodes.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein said support comprises -a Hawley-typefull palate retainer.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,967,815 7/1934Frieberg 18--409 2,123,980 7/1938 Warwick 12S- 172.1 2,151,738 3/1939Buhse 12S-409 X 3,118,450 1/1964 Freeman et al. 12S-409 ADELE M. EAGER,Primary Examiner.

1. A DEVICE FOR PRODUCING ELECTRICAL STIMULI FOR CORRECTING TONGUETHRUST PROBLEMS OF A WEARER OF THE DEVICE, COMPRISING: A FULL PALATERETAINER POSITIONABLE IN SAID WEARER''S MOUTH AGAINST THE PALATETHEREOF, SAID RETAINER BEING MADE FROM AN IMPRESSION OF SAID PALATE ANDINCLUDING MEANS FOR MAINTAINING SAID RETAINER IN POSITION IN SAID MOUTHAGAINST SAID PALATE; A PAIR OF ELECTRODES MOUNTEDF IN SAID PALATERETAINER IN SUCH A MANNER THAT SAID ELECTRODES ARE LOCATED APPROXIMATELYONE MILLIMETER FROM THE LINGUAL SURFACE OF THE UPPER INCISORS OF SAIDWEARER WHEN SAID PALATE RETAINER IS IN POSITION IN SAID MOUTH, SAIDELECTRODES INCLUDING TIPS WHICH PROJECTS TOWARD THE TIP OF THE WEARER''STONGUE ABOUT TWO MILLIMETERS FROM SAID INCISORS WHEN SAID PALATERETAINER IS IN POSITION IN SAID MOUTH; A BATTERY MEANS MOUNTED IN SAIDPALATE RETAINER; AND ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT MEANS MOUNTED IN SAID RETAINERFOR CONNECTING SAID ELECTRODES IN SERIES WITH SAID BATTERY MEANS,WHEREBY SAID TONGUE WILL CLOSE SAID CIRCUIT AND RECEIVE ELECTRICALSTIMULI WHEN SAID TONGUE CONTACTS SAID ELECTRODES.